Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: An increased understanding of the interactions between the immune system and tumors has opened the door to immunotherapy for cancer patients. Despite some success with checkpoint inhibitors including ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, and nivolumab, most cancer patients remain unresponsive to such immunotherapy, likely due to intrinsic tumor resistance. The mechanisms most likely involve reducing the quantity and/or quality of antitumor lymphocytes, which ultimately are driven by any number of developments: tumor mutations and adaptations, reduced neoantigen generation or expression, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) overexpression, loss of phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) expression, and overexpression of the Wnt⁻β-catenin pathway. Current work in immunotherapy continues to identify various tumor resistance mechanisms; future work is needed to develop adjuvant treatments that target those mechanisms, in order to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy and to expand its scope.
DOI: 10.3390/ijms19051340
Authors: John Rieth, Subbaya Subramanian
Institutions: University of Minnesota, Masonic Cancer Center
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,499
Awards: G1391377793, G9000299986
OpenAlex ID: W2802554884